2 Attachment(s)
Why Crawl's Darker Original Ending Was A Missed Opportunity
Director Alexandre Aja originally envisioned a much darker ending for Crawl, which in hindsight, would've probably been the better choice. Overall, Crawl is a pretty bleak movie. Sure, at the center of things is the unbreakable bond between Haley Keller (Kaya Scodelario) and her father Dave (Barry Pepper), and the lengths they're willing to go to save each other's lives. But over the course of the film, almost nothing they attempt to do goes right, and usually lands them in an even worse position.
By the end of the film, Dave has had one of his legs broken, one of his arms ripped off, and been generally battered and bruised by the alligators who want to make the Kellers into a meal. Meanwhile, Haley has been similarly beaten down, with her own leg mangled, and at several points coming close to death. She even suffers the dreaded gator roll, which in real life almost always leads to death.
Considering that the Keller house is shown to be surrounded by ravenous alligators, and how many brushes with death Haley and Dave go through, the fact that they survive is a bit of a miracle. However, Aja has revealed that at one point in the Crawl creative process, things ended much worse for the pair.
Why Crawl's Darker Original Ending Was A Missed Opportunity
According to Alexandra Aja, an early script draft ended with Haley and Dave escaping in the rescue basket of the helicopter they attract the attention of at the end of the finished film, only for a large alligator to jump up and grab it, sending them back down to certain watery doom. Aja felt this ending made Crawl feel too hopeless, but it's actually much more realistic of a conclusion. The end of the film as it stands reeks of a being a Hollywood ending, providing a happy ending for Haley and Dave just because they're likeable characters.
For one, the chances a helicopter would even be flying during a category 5 hurricane are exceedingly low, as the wind and torrential rain would make its operation incredibly dangerous. Even if someone was crazy enough to be flying in that weather, there are a million chances for things to go wrong during the actual rescue attempt. Crawl's theatrical ending just feels too neat and tidy, after a film full of things going from bad to worse for the Kellers. The gators winning would make much more sense, even if it was a downer. Plus, the credits opening with "see ya later alligator," which got a big laugh at many screenings, would become a darkly ironic choice if done right after the Kellers' rescue was foiled by an athletic gator.
